Workshop Report March 2011 Budva ... - Renanetwork.org

Workshop Report on the EU Climate and Energy package (Focus on Effort Sharing, Renewables and CCS Details of the Decision10. Mr Van der Gaast gave an introduction on the Directive 2009/28/EC and explained the im-plications fornational renewable strategies. He also provided a section on lessonbs learned from Member States andRENA countries. The main conclusion is that renewable strategies are to prioritise technologies accordingto the country context. It is important to analyse systems with a focus on barriers and opportunities.11. Mr Vesligaj then presented Croatia’s strategy towards achieving the renewable targets as agreed between theCommission and Croatia in the framework of the accession negotiations.12. Mr Van der Gaast then introduced Directive 2009/31/EC on carbon capture and storage focusing on: Description of the Directive requirements Introduction to the technical potential of CCS Case studies (Netherlands)This part of the workshop triggered intensive discussions among participants.2.4 Workshop conclusionsThe meeting was concluded with a forum discussion facilitated by Mr Imre Csikós. From the lively discussions itcan be concluded that the major obstacle for implementing the requirements of the Climate and Energypackage is the lack of absorption and implementation capacities in terms of institutions and staff. In addition itwas indicated that climate change issues are currently not very high on the political agenda in the RENAcountries significantly hampering progress in this field. However, the workshop also concluded that the Climateand Energy Package will provide ample opportunities to the region. This mainly relates to the fact thatadoption of the package requirements by the RENA countries will unlock the renewable energy potentials of thecountries. In addition the Package provides opportunities to achieve sustainable development throughtransformation towards low carbon emission development and create a new economic potential to achieve setrenewable targets (new jobs). Finally, it was mentioned that RENA’s role is seen as a vehicle for the region toexplore and unlock opportunities to implement elements of the Climate and Energy Package in the regionthrough: the development of concrete projects (legislation, institutional and legal background analyses,roadmaps) to be financed by donors the establishment of a platform of climate experts from the RENA region and the experts of theEU Commission and EU Member States by using actively the experience of the new MemberStates. The platform’s purpose is not only to provide continuous dialogue between above experts,but also to serve as an instrument to transfer the knowledge on the Climate and Energy Packagerequirements. assistance in defining the capacity building needs for the RENA beneficiary countriesThe workshop concluded that at present all RENA countries arerequired to significantly step up their human resources and skillscapacity to implement the elements of the climate and energypackage in their countries. In this context participants stressed thedesirability of a high-level message from the EU side to theenvironment Ministers from the region.Participants indicated that they welcome this first RENA climateinitiative to transfer knowledge to the Western Balkans and Turkishclimate experts on the latest developments in relation to the Climateand Energy Package. This is of particular importance as it isrecognised that the Western Balkans and Turkey are expected to besignificantly affected (more than other parts in Europe) by climate change related impacts through higher10